Am I not a Canucks fan if I like Mark Messier?

[DavidPratt_]

I hate Messier for his help in dismantling the Canucks. He broke up a fun team to watch in a short period of time. Mogilny on the other hand...I liked him for the most part. He was a floater at the end of his time here but he was surrounded with anvils. He just needed a top line center. His 55 G year he was with Ronning. Then the Canucks dumped Ronning & the G's for Molginy dropped. Strange times were about to happen to the 96-00 Canucks !

I don't like Messier, but I will admit something. After the '94 run and Rick Ley took over the team, I would argue that the Canucks got 'comfortable'. The long-time players didn't have that 'hunger' after the Cup final and it showed in the standings and in the team's performance. Despite pretty talented players, the Canucks did very little after '94 and both Ley and Renney struggled getting the team to wake up. Keenan came in and realized the team had some issues and then did his 'shock and awe' thing.
Messier came to the team and probably saw a few things about the team he didn't like, which people tend to forget.

Having said all of that - I don't like Messier and his legacy with Vancouver is certainly a pretty negative one.

dp

[JamesOwnzSam11]

No it isn't, don't get me wrong I can see why easily...I remember when he first signed...he was treated like a hero returning after a lifetime of war

But man 99-00 was a good year...I'd easily have that team over this years team make the playoffs if given a choice.....( o.o ) it was then the fans started to come back right around the all star break.

God damn Potvin.

[joecheesy]

Mark Messier was an embarrassment nearly the entire time he was here - a perimeter player who would never take responsibility for his poor play. I got so tired of his post-game interviews, blaming everybody but himself for another soft loss. I don't think he threw a bodycheck the entire time he was here. Say what you will about Brian Burke, but not dumping Messier at the end of his contract was pretty classy, and more than Messier deserved, given his time here.

[supercanuck]

Hated him as an Oiler
Hated him as a Ranger
Hated him as a Canuck
Hated him as Ranger again
Hated him as a Lays Chips Spokesman
Hate him now that he is retired

...and I'm sure I'll hate him when he's dead.

My thoughts exactly...

[VHF]

I'll go a little against the grain and say that Messier was awesome when he was an Oiler and I did like him back them. Some people on here are perhaps too young to remember or see him as an Oiler, be was a complete and highly competitive player. After that I hated him.

[magnum44]

He was completely coked out when he was with the Oilers. A friend of mine lived on the same block as him in St. Albert and I've heard tonnes of stories from his dad about what went on at that house

[DavidPratt_]

He was completely coked out when he was with the Oilers. A friend of mine lived on the same block as him in St. Albert and I've heard tonnes of stories from his dad about what went on at that house

The Edmonton Police Dept. covered up for Messier and others on the team during those days. Messier has never been a saint. Still, despite all the negativity towards him in Vancouver looking back at his entire career he has had a hall-of-fame career. Despite Vancouver.

I still don't like the guy.

dp

[randymeeks]

I hate Messier for his help in dismantling the Canucks. He broke up a fun team to watch in a short period of time.

I don't agree with you one little bit here. It was long overdue for that core of players to get a one-way ticket outta town. Have you forgotten the fact that the season before this fun team to watch missed the playoffs? And they got off to a horrible start when the dismantling of that core occurred. That group of players was almost exactly like our group of players last season. A group of guys on long-term deals that felt they had nothing to prove and became complacent. I hate Messier as much as any Canuck fan. But the Linden-McLean core had to go.

[DavidPratt_]

I hate Messier for his help in dismantling the Canucks. He broke up a fun team to watch in a short period of time.

I don't agree with you one little bit here. It was long overdue for that core of players to get a one-way ticket outta town. Have you forgotten the fact that the season before this fun team to watch missed the playoffs? And they got off to a horrible start when the dismantling of that core occurred. That group of players was almost exactly like our group of players last season. A group of guys on long-term deals that felt they had nothing to prove and became complacent. I hate Messier as much as any Canuck fan. But the Linden-McLean core had to go.

That's what I said in a previous post. After '94, the Canucks went through Rick Ley and then got to Tom Renney before Keenan showed up. A lot of those players had been there too long and it's true that a talented team like the '95/96 team missed the playoffs similar to the Canucks team this past season.

dp

[JamesOwnzSam11]

heh what went on in the Messier house?

Besides Madona.

[Nanaimo_Nuck]

I didn't enjoy Messier's stay in Vancouver too much... you can't hate the guy pesonally for it, some things in life just don't work out and Messier didnt work out here. But hey that's life right...

However I have to admit he was a great NHL player and you gotta respect that he played so long and admire his accomplishments as a professional athlete. I always thought he was dangerous when u played against him so hey... whatever I guess... shit happens.

The Canucks turned it around and no team is gonna be perfect forever. I respected the guy. You gotta make changes and I think he was just on the wrong team.

[ververgaert]

Well said Nanimo! I didn't like his time in Vancouver either. I was glad when they first sighned him, rewmebering him from his Oiler days . But damn did he cause havoc here and seemeed to have little respect for the players that we as fans loved .

[MarkMM]

I was excited that the Canucks picked him up as I thought he was a solid (but overpaid) player with outstanding leadership qualities, however, from what I recall, his leadership "style" was often what drove the team apart, creating divisions in the dressing room, it might have had something to do with the fact that he was handed the mantle of team leader without proving anything to this team and this city, and the guys who'd shed blood for the Canucks (Linded et al) were, intentionally or not, shoved aside.

I think what made his stay as bad as it was is the combination of him and Mike Keenan, Keenan is himself a pretty divisive character, and when you get a new leader like Messier who was adored by a coach who was despised by the team, and the guys who were respected by the team (Linden) were shoved aside, it was just an ugly, ugly situation.

[DavidPratt_]

Well said Nanimo! I didn't like his time in Vancouver either. I was glad when they first sighned him, rewmebering him from his Oiler days . But damn did he cause havoc here and seemeed to have little respect for the players that we as fans loved .

Everyone loved Gino, Trevor, Kirk, etc. but by the time Keenan got to them, the team was admittedly stale. How Keenan broke up the team was probably a bigger issue to many fans in comparison to why. The team needed some changes at the time. They had missed the playoffs in the previous season despite having a wealth of talent.

dp

[JamesOwnzSam11]

I'm not to fond of the love shack that Linden has in this city either I remember people crying when he was traded, just crying.